1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to railway hopper cars and door operating mechanisms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art door operating mechanisms are exemplified by the operating mechanism shown in the Floehr U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,857 which provides for opening and closing of a plurality of transversely disposed discharge gates in unison, but requires longitudinally reciprocable operating shafts. Experience has shown that such devices are relatively difficult to fabricate and difficult to repair due to the close tolerances essential to assure proper sealing of discharge gates. Additionally, warping-like jamming flexure of a fully loaded hopper car can act to bind the operating mechanism and thus render the mechanism marginally serviceable or inoperative after extended use. Other arrangements used to open transverse discharge gates such as the Novelli U.S. Pat. No. 3,122,106 utilize a vertically disposed piston which consumes much space and is difficult to reach for repair and maintenance.
The present invention improves upon prior designs by utilizing a longitudinally rotatable actuating shaft operatively connected to an arrangement of pendulously mounted levers and compression struts for selective operation of the hopper discharge gates. An overcenter locking configuration of the vertical levers and compression struts assures positive locking of the discharge gates when closed, and simplicity of design facilitates fabrication and field service and repair or maintenance.